With the disastrous season experienced by the Redskins after playing quarterbacks Rex Grossman and John Beck and the fact that coach Mike Shanahan, at one point, believed in one or both of them to be his franchise quarterback, it makes perfect sense that Washington would be scouting quarterbacks at this week’s Senior Bowl.

Shanahan said as much when, while talking to Rapid Reporter Larry Holder, he said, “I think everyone wants a franchise quarterback. If you don’t have a franchise quarterback and you say you’re not looking for one, then you usually won’t be working for very long. Everybody wants that guy. People that usually do have that guy are consistently winning.”

So, yeah, based on those remarks, Beck and Grossman should be worried about their future employment, especially with the news reported by NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora, who writes that “execs I talk to expect Washington to make a move for St. Louis' No. 2 overall slot in the draft, and select whichever quarterback doesn't go first overall (at this point, it looks like [Robert] Griffin).”

For now, it seems almost guaranteed that the Colts will take Stanford’s Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, but Indianapolis would be well served to explore the possibilities of taking the former Baylor quarterback.

The Redskins, who have the No. 6 pick, would have to put together quite a package to wrestle the No. 2 selection away from the Rams, who already have a franchise quarterback in Sam Bradford.

As CBSSports.com’s Ryan Wilson pointed out a week ago the Browns, who have the No. 4 pick, also could be interested in cutting a deal with St. Louis for the right to take whichever quarterback the Colts don’t select.

As NFL.com’s Steve Wyche wrote, "Several teams are going to try and move up to get Griffin but the Browns have the most ammo -- the fourth overall pick and a late first-rounder or high picks in later rounds. Cleveland needs Griffin -- and wants him, according to league sources -- and the Rams will still get their man."

If the Redskins can’t get Griffin, perhaps they’d be better served to grab Matt Flynn. But they also should take caution when signing a backup quarterback who’s put together only a few impressive performances. The Cardinals tried that last year with Kevin Kolb, and you saw just how poorly that move went.

Whichever way the Redskins decide, some kind of move needs to be made. We saw how untenable the combination of Grossman and Beck was last year. Next season, if the two of them are on top of the depth chart, it’s hard to picture a final outcome for the Redskins that would be any different from 2011. Except that Shanahan might be in danger of losing his own job.

While it’s no surprise that underclassmen like Stanford's Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III are eligible for the 2012 NFL draft, it’s now official. The NFL announced today that 65 players have been granted special eligibility into the draft, and that includes Luck and Griffin.

In order to do so, they had to meet the NFL’s three-year eligibility rule and had to submit a written application in “which he renounced his remaining college football eligibility.”

The total of 65 is the highest number of underclassmen that made themselves eligible since the NFL began allowing them to apply in 2003.

With three games remaining in the 2011 NFL season, it's just about time to flip into full "Where will Peyton Manning play in 2012?" mode. (Trust me: from February 8th to March 8th, you'll hear a lot about it.) His father Archie Manning said Sunday that Peyton would prefer to stay with the Colts.

Of course, as long as Eli Manning is playing -- he beat Green Bay at Lambeau on Sunday with Archie watching -- the Manning machine might as well already be started.

"Peyton kind of likes his roots in Indy,” Archie told the New York Post after watching his other son beat the Packers at Lambeau Field. "We’ll see what happens there. If that doesn’t work and he can get healthy we’ll see. That’ll all work out. He’s just trying to get healthy."

Archie was asked specifically about the rumors that the Jets could be interested in Peyton and declined to discuss that.

“I’m not going to get into that," Archie replied.

It shouldn't be surprising that Peyton wants to stay with the Colts. He's due a lot of money, it's the only team he's ever played for, he's comfortable with the organization and the idea of being discarded by the one team he's ever played for so they can draft a rookie with the first pick can't be comforting.

But Peyton has little control over whether or not he stays with the Colts. That boils down to his health, their specific plan to rebuild the roster and myriad other factors that will be fleshed out over the next month or so.

On Sunday during The NFL Today, CBS Sports Charley Casserly reported that Baylor quarterback (and second-rated would-be draftee) Robert Griffin III would think over his NFL Draft decision, meet with Baylor coach Art Briles on Tuesday and make a call on whether to go pro or not.

He's reportedly made that call and, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN, he's "informing" Briles that he will enter the NFL Draft. Mortensen writes all that's left for the Heisman winner is to pick an agent, which could happen by Tuesday evening.

Briles said earlier Tuesday, via our NFL Draft Scout amigos, that Griffin is "contemplating what he feels like is the thing that's going to give him peace."

When the real draft rolls around, there's a pretty good chance that RG3 wouldn't even last that long; there's plenty of rumors circulating that the Redskins will make a move to leapfrog the Browns for the second- or third-overall pick.

That means both teams will be looking to maximize the value out of their respective draft slots, and that could very easily equate to a trade down that involves either the Redskins, the Dolphins, or some other surprise team.

All of this is to say that it makes absolute sense for Griffin to make a leap to the pros now, rather than waiting a year. So it's no surprise to hear that's exactly what he's doing.

This isn't particularly shocking news (to some, anyway), but the Rams won't be shopping for a quarterback in the 2012 NFL Draft and will stick with Sam Bradford as their franchise quarterback.

CBS Sports Charley Casserly reported as much on Sunday on The NFL Today, noting that the Rams are "going to stick with" Bradford (versus drafting, say, Robert Griffin III) and utilize their second pick in April's draft to improve in other areas.

"They're going to stick with Sam Bradford," Casserly told James Brown Sunday. "If Griffin comes out that second pick has value. If he doesn't come out, it doesn't. I would ask for two No. 1 picks and another pick depending on where that team is [sitting]. Unless I can get a second No. 1 I'm taking [Justin] Blackmon and now I've got a target for Bradford."

St. Louis has a pretty good shot at getting the second first-rounder for that No. 2 pick, especially with the Redskins potentially needing to jump the Browns to grab RG3 if they want him.

The problem then becomes whether or not the Browns are interested in Blackmon; the Rams certainly want to accumulate as many picks as possible, and getting maximum trade value for the No. 2 pick is paramount for them this season.

But they're going to lose Brandon Lloyd this offseason, and you have to wonder how long they can go without investing heavily in a top-end wideout to pair with their franchise quarterback.

CBS Sports Charley Casserly reported Sunday that a decision will come next week, likely as early as Tuesday after Griffin meets with Baylor coach Art Briles.

"[Briles] told me he talked to Griffin last week," Casserly reported on The NFL Today. "Griffin is going to think about this weekend and they're going to come back and meet on Tuesday. At that point, Coach Briles told me Griffin will make his decision to stay in school or come out."

March 8 looms large for the Indianapolis Colts, since that's the deadline for picking up a $28 million option on Peyton Manning's contract. But both Manning and the Colts could be interested in negotiating an extension on that deadline.

That's according to a report from Sports Illustrated's Peter King Saturday afternoon, where King said he's hearing that both sides are "amenable" to pushing the deadline back.

Christian Ponder had a solid first year for the Vikings, but he wasn't necessarily guaranteed to remain the future for the Vikings, thanks to the success of Joe Webb late in the year, as well as the presence of talented quarterbacks in the 2012 NFL Draft.

However, new Vikings general manager Rick Speilman said on Wednesday that Ponder is the guy going forward.

That doesn't mean Ponder can't lose the starting job to Webb (or any other veteran the Vikings bring in). It simply means that Minnesota doesn't plan on drafting a quarterback (say, Robert Griffin III) in the upcoming draft.

Lest you say that's obvious, the Browns are already a current example of how a team can fail to commit to a high draft pick as soon as the season ends. On Tuesday, Browns coach Pat Shurmur wouldn't commit to having Colt McCoy as his starter going forward and/or the Browns not drafting a quarterback in April.

Obviously the two situations are different; Ponder was a much higher pick than McCoy and Minnesota's only seen one season of Ponder, whereas McCoy's played in two full seasons, albeit shortened ones because of Cleveland's depth chart and concussion injuries.

But the Vikings do have the third pick in the draft, and that means they're squarely in the wheelhouse for potentially landing RG3. (For what it's worth, Rob Rang and Dane Brugler have them taking Matt Kalil and Morris Claiborne, respectively, in our latest mock drafts.)

Now they're more likely to find themselves squarely in the wheelhouse of trading down with a team that wants the Baylor product, which, as long as Ponder pans out to their projections, is an enviable position indeed.